Sometimes the ideas come from out of nowhere, but for Tom Skripps it came after building a spaceship from a certain popular building-block brand and a subsequent trip to Fenway Park to see his Boston Red Sox play.

This year’s edition of the hobby’s annual throwback to yesteryear, Topps Heritage, isn’t set to arrive in hobby shops until March 14, but we got our hands on an early sample box and cracked it without the cameras rolling.

While we’re a few days away from Feb. 1 — aka the official arrival day for this year’s version of the hobby’s most-collected set, Topps baseball — we’ll offer some peaks at what’s inside the wrappers in the simplest way possible.

With five days remaining until the arrival of the hobby’s most collected baseball card set, Topps has pulled back the curtain on a set of rather lustrous cards that will be found in packs of 2012 Topps as redemptions.

You might not think that a pair of stirrup socks would be worth one’s time at auction … but this dynamic duo proved that notion wrong last fall when they appeared on the auction block via Heritage Auctions.

It’s a 1990 Bowman Jose Cano Rookie Card — card No. 68 — and it’s generously valued at a nickel. But the story part? Did you know that this once 27-year-old pitcher with six games in the big leagues in 1989 has a pretty famous son?

A trio of game-used New York Yankees jerseys from one memorable game this season — and one from a rather memorable game from 35 years ago — have hit the auction block through the 8D Network’s first auction, which launched today.

The jersey Mariano Rivera wore for his 22nd save this season — also Derek Jeter’s 3,000th-hit game — is on the auction block in Steiner Sports’ second-annual Yankees Legends sale and it’s already grabbing attention.